Note: The translation for this entry is currently under quality review. Some content is temporarily displayed in English only.
molecular clock
This term describes a specialized bio-chronological tool rather than a physical timepiece. It relies on the premise that genetic mutations accumulate at a relatively constant rate over millions of years, allowing scientists to calculate the timing of evolutionary divergence.
In academic and scientific registers, it is used as a technical methodology. It is often contrasted with the fossil record, which provides physical evidence of existence, whereas the molecular clock provides a calculated estimate of time based on genomic sequences.
Meanings
A technique in evolutionary biology that uses the mutation rate of biomolecules to estimate the time in prehistory when two or more life forms diverged from a common ancestor.
Researchers used a molecular clock to determine that the two species split from a common ancestor approximately ten million years ago.